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Synopsis:
Callista Ming, having recently joined the crew of a
Gamorrean ship known as the Zicreex under Captain
Ugmush, arrives on Gamorr when the ship sets down to
allow Ugmush’s brother, Guth, to challenge the warrior
Vrokk for the hand of Guth’s beloved Kufbrug of the
Hold of Bolgoink. Shortly after the fight is to have
taken place, Guth arrives at the ship, chased by
authorities. Vrokk has been found murdered, and Guth is
the prime suspect, and with him, the rest of the Zicreex
crew. Upon speaking with Kufbrug, her sister Gundruk,
and Vrokk’s brother, Rog, Callista is allowed to
investigate the murder. She visits various dealers and
the writer of a letter supposedly sent by the illiterate
Guth to Vrokk. It turns out that the person
impersonating Guth in having the letter written seems to
have hidden some kind of murder weapon or poison under
the seal of the letter. Callista think she knows what it
might be, so she and Kufbrug stake out Vrokk’s “haunted”
quarters, where he died.
Callista’s suspicion are correct. Vrokk was killed by
a creature that had been hidden in the seal — a
kheilwar, native to Af’El. Callista and Kufbrug battle
the shapeshifting creature, and as it dies, it moves
through all of its most recent forms to reveal that it
was Rog and Gundruk behind the murder. Kufbrug was near
suicide, and they believed the execution of Guth for
murder would have pushed her over the edge, allowing Rog
to marry Gundruk and rule the Hold of Bolgoink. This
treachery revealed, Callista and the crew watch happily
as Guth and Kufbrug are finally married, as it should
be. |